Two more hostages are home in Israel

The UN Criminal Court of Justice told Hamas to release the hostages immediately unconditionally and they have not done so. The people of Israel want all of their people home as would any country being held hostage by Hamas as they continue to keep hostage over one hundred Israelis (old and infirm men, young children, mothers, women and men) for more than four months in inhumane conditions underground without proper food, ventilation or changes of clothing. Release the hostages Hamas; Hamas is the problem as they continue to disobey the UN Criminal Court of Justice. 

Cleaning all accomplished yesterday and today the basement. A very small amount of work done on Blake mostly because there was a post on our Guild of one-name studies group mail site that delved into medieval families and how to trace back into the period before parish registers effectively. It was an interesting discussion that guaranteed my rest periods from cleaning. Sometimes I keep at it too long. 

The discussion on medieval records yesterday was most interesting but did not reveal any new sources for me to look at. I have a path and will just gradually follow it as I acquire all the records that I have not yet acquired to put the books together. It does make for a rather busy retirement that is for sure. Sometimes I do wonder if I have taken too much on but the days pass and winter is here and my favourite thing to do in the winter is research. 

Minus 6 degrees celsius today; winter has truly returned.  

Funny how the memory of my jumper came back to me yesterday. It was maybe six months before my younger sister was born. My mother didn't realize she was pregnant; she thought she was going through menopause my grandmother told me. I remember her menopause very clearly as she had it all: hot flashes, drowning in sweat, (being pregnant with five young children). I think in all she was ten years going through menopause if I remember my grandmother correctly. Apparently it was very like what happened to her paternal grandmother who died at 47 and I expect it was rather frightening. I was just a child of eight years at the time. She was very surprised to be pregnant apparently - I didn't actually know we were having a new baby until much later, I think when school finished that year actually and it was my grandmother who told me accidentally. I think it was because a neighbor visited her when I was with her one Saturday and they were talking about the new baby coming. When my mother told us I acted surprised because I didn't want Grandma to get into trouble. The wisdom of an eight year old. As it turned out my menopause was very uneventful - no hot flashes and much later. Funny really. I saw the article on menopause and it made me think of my mother who really struggled with menopause way back in the 1950s and early 60s. But she did live to be nearly 86 and never had dementia but probably she did not have hormonal imbalance but who knows. She was clear thinking right to the end of her life. We went to see her when she was hospitalized and I spent the entire day with her and that was lucky because two weeks later she developed sepsis and was gone very quickly; actually no one told me or my daughter who had just moved there and for both of us it was a very sad moment not to be with her when she passed. My older daughter was so very close to her grandmother; they used to sit on a chair laughing together when she was young and they talked in French as she was in French Immersion and my mother remembered her French from High School. It was the cutest thing to see them together. She was a perfect grandmother. My daughter was the only baby for eight years after her three older cousins (who were 6, 7 and 11 years older than her) and the next child was my second daughter and then the other four arrived two years apart one after the other. My younger daughter never really got to know her grandmother like my older daughter did; there were too many babies all at once!

My great grandmother (my mother's paternal grandmother) had a rather sad life in some ways. Her two older sisters died in childbirth before she married, her younger sister died of dropsy not long after my great grandmother married and only her youngest sibling, her brother, survived to live a long life. It must have been frightening back in the 1870s when my grandfather was born; one baby had already been stillborn and then he arrived living and both survived. Two more children followed but one died at 6 months and the other at 13 years about a year after her mother. His mother died from an abdominal complaint according to her son which was diagnosed as cancer 12 months on the death certificate but I still wonder if she had an ectopic pregnancy or a pregnancy outside the womb that wasn't detected at the time. He (my maternal  grandfather) told my maternal grandmother that his mother had felt movement (this would have been, if I am correct, her fifth pregnancy and I definitely felt movement by 10 weeks with my later pregnancies) which was strange to my young ears. She died in 1886. I suppose it was such things that inclined me towards medicine but working in Africa was something I wanted to do as a medical missionary where I could make a difference because they didn't have enough doctors. I think hearing such things as a child was something that frightened my mother in retrospect but once through menopause I would say her health improved remarkably and she was a very hale and hearty 50, 60, 70, and 80 year old. 

Must get to the cleaning.

BLAKE - Will of William BLAKE, Yeoman, Eastontowne near Andover - National Archives, PROB 11/64/501, probated 14 Nov 1582

I was watching a Biblical movie about Isaac and Joseph where Isaac was teaching his son Joseph his ancestral line with a knotted rope and each knot represented a generation back with a name of the male ancestor. At that time, back in 2004, I was just starting to look at genealogy when I saw this movie and amazingly I remembered my grandfather reciting the names of his male ancestors going back in time. My grandfather, Samuel George BLAKE, lived with us when I was a young child and he loved to talk about Upper Clatford and would rhyme off the names of his parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. I was too young to retain everything that he told me regrettably. One item though always stuck in my memory, and my father repeated it on occasion as well. That particular item was that Nicholas BLAKE lived at Old Hall in Enham. I could not remember how you got back to Nicholas, I was stranded at Joseph BLAKE. However, these two forenames did stick in my mind. The path back to Joseph was easy, Grandpa was Samuel, his father was Edward, his father was John, his father was Thomas and his father was Joseph. In retrospect, he was trying to ensure that we, my six siblings and myself, did not forget our BLAKE heritage. That we knew where we were in this enormous family of BLAKE. I was pretty much stuck at Joseph although I knew the names Thomas, William, Richard, John all belonged in there but especially I remembered about Nicholas and Old Hall (probably because my father also mentioned his ancient ancestor over the years as I was growing up). Mind you I did not approach my own research with that idea firmly entrenched. I gradually worked my way back through the records. It was another five years before I was in the state I am now which is that it "appears that my line goes back to this Nicholas Blake, then his likely father Richard and his likely father Robert BLAKE who kindly left his will (in Latin) probably as quite an elderly person in 1521 naming his children."

In my father's hand the three generations of his line, this picture of my great grandfather was taken at Upper Clatford in 1898. Although his strabismus (lazy eye syndrome) is obvious to me; it is the much larger picture of Edward and his wife Maria Jane (Knight) BLAKE that convinced me that my eye defect came from my great grandfather.

Although I became a member of the Guild of one-name Studies in about 2007 taking on the Pincombe surname (my mother's maiden name), I never really contemplated, beyond wishful thinking, taking on the BLAKE surname. It seemed quite an indomitable task. By 2011, I had found a lot of material on BLAKE in the Andover area and realized that there was a mystery in this family which could only be solved by looking at the BLAKE families in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and beyond. Gradually I realized as I accumulated data that a one-name study would make sense. I could collate the information that I had, zip it up and pass it on. That made BLAKE doable as a one-name study for me.

Having blogged on John BLAKE of Nether Wallop's will in the last blog of this blogging Challenge, the next logical will to blog was that of William BLAKE who died in 1582. How can I be sure he died in 1582, he wrote his will on the 27th July 1582 and his will was probated the 14th November 1582. As I mentioned in the last blog, William BLAKE who died in 1582 seemed like a very straightforward linear descendant of Nicholas BLAKE (and I will blog Nicholas' will next and that of his wife Margaret) until I accidentally discovered the BLAKE Pedigree Chart created by the College of Arms for Daniel BLAKE in 1690 (and the final chart has additions up to the 1730s and later). Daniel BLAKE was himself descendant of the BLAKE family of Calne and Pinhills according to the BLAKE Pedigree Chart* (inserted below).The Chart was mentioned in a write up by another BLAKE researcher and I managed to locate it at the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office.

*Used with permission, Wiltshire and Swindon Archives, reference number 343/1MS

I think William BLAKE was a very precise man as he details absolutely everything that could possibly go wrong in the settling of an estate. He is particularly precise in how his wife Elizabeth is to be treated. I wonder is he so precise because she is a second wife? There is confusion about this William BLAKE of Eastontowne and in his will he does describe himself as of Eastontowne and Andover. He writes his will; he is mentioned in several Visitations, and he appears on the BLAKE Pedigree Chart held by the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office or does he, is it actually this William BLAKE, the testator?

The Lay Subsidy returns for Andover and area do list two William BLAKE entries*

1571 Andever William BLAKE of Enham G 40

1571 Knight's Enham Tithing William BLAKE G 3

*West Hampshire Lay Subsidy Assessments, 1558-1603 (Andover, Kingsclere and New Forest Divisions), edited by Douglas F Vick, 1987 (self-published).

Both of these subsidy returns were for a William BLAKE of Enham and following his father Nicholas's death in 1547, William lived at Old Hall in [Knights] Enham. However by 1582 he says in his will he lived at Eastontown. Making use of William BLAKE's will in order to place William in the correct spot in the genealogical framework of the BLAKE family at Andover, Hampshire is a good first step. William BLAKE, in his will, names his brother Edmund BLAKE, who must still be living in 1582, although I have yet to find him. He also mentions his sisters Elizabeth Monday and Ann Godwyn. These are the same children that Nicholas BLAKE of Enham named as his children including William in his will of 1574. William's grandmother Jone Blake of Enham widow left her will in 1527 naming her sons Robert and Nicholas and her daughter Elizabeth married to Mr. Mylne. Thus William is now located in the family that lived at Enham (near Andover in 1527). Unfortunately the name of Jone BLAKE's husband is not mentioned in her will and I will blog on this will in the blog next following the wills of Nicholas and his wife Margaret.

William, the testator, mentions his two youngest sons first - Richard and Thomas. He then moves on to his daughters mentioning first Amye and she is married to Drewe Rombold. Next daughter mentioned is Margeret and she is married to (unknown) Jarvis. Third daughter mentioned is Agnes married to (unknown Kynton). Elizabeth married to Peter Beale is mentioned next and she is the daughter about whom I have more information. The eight children of Peter Beale and Elizabeth are all baptized at Priors Dean with the eldest Eleanor (Helena) Beale, married to Anthony Habberley, baptized 11 Mar 1579. Perhaps Elizabeth BLAKE's likely date of marriage is 1578 or 1579 since March is the end of the year rather than the beginning in this time frame. Perhaps she was 21 when she married giving her a possible date of birth around 1558 or earlier (or later since young marriages also occurred). Elizabeth's last child was Elizabeth and I have not yet found her baptism but allotting a two year break which is not actually true in this family but close then Elizabeth was likely born around 1593 when Elizabeth would have been around 35 years of ago (or older since women often had children into their 40s). Playing with this timeline lets me look at the marriage of William with regard to time frame and all of his daughters are married by 1582 the date of his will. The last mentioned daughter is Mary and she married Ralfe Rigges and she is the daughter about whom I have the most information. She died before 1 Sep 1612 at Fareham. They had ten children with the first one buried 35 Apr 1580 at Fareham. The fifth child Mary is the first for whom I have a baptism and that was 27 Jun 1585 at Fareham. The Rigges family is in the Visitation and I have extracted their family information from there and collected records where available. It would appear that Mary has married before Elizabeth  leaving one to conjecture that Elizabeth may have been older rather than younger in the estimation of ages. Even randomly placing these children into the family of William with John the eldest there are in total ten children mentioned in the will (sons John, William, Peter, Thomas and Richard). Placing the children on an approximate distance apart scale of two years and knowing that Elizabeth may have been the last daughter to marry in 1578 or 79 at the possible age of 21 with a possible year of birth around 1558 and she was not the youngest then working back to the eldest John five children or more earlier than John may have been born around 1548 or earlier. Which brings us to Nicholas' will which I will put up next and he mentions that his son William has children in 1547 so coming close to a reasonable time frame and either some have died or John and other(s) were born prior to 1547 when Nicholas wrote his will.

William, the testator, writes that his eldest son is John and no details on John besides his being eldest. John is not named Executor unless William the second eldest son defaults. I am left with two thoughts in that regard. John doesn't live closeby is my first thought and my second is that John is already married and has perhaps a large family responsibility although William takes great pains to protect his inheritance to his children as if there aren't any heirs male of John. Any possible grandchildren are not mentioned by William in his will.

The order of sons: John is the eldest, William is the second son, Peter is the third son, Thomas is the fourth son and Richard is the fifth son.

The Blake Pedigree Chart which I mentioned earlier is held at the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office. It is a beautiful chart about four feet wide and twelve feet high. It lists William BLAKE of Eastontown as the son of Roger BLAKE of Pinhills Wiltshire and that he was married to Avis Ripley and died in 1582. The children listed on the chart: Agnes married to Roger Hyde, John married to Margaret Blake daughter of William Blake of Eastontown, William married to Ann Tutt and Peter who never married. William BLAKE, the testator in the will below, does have a daughter Agnes but she is married to (unknown Kynton) and he does have the three children mentioned John, William and Peter. Hence one can see my difficulty in resolving these two mentions of William Blake of Eastontown. The will is the difficulty. If one just goes with all the Visitation information the family lines just seem to flow and the Pedigree Chart at Swindon and Wiltshire was built from the Visitations. There is one notable exception, the Wiltshire Visitation of 1623 does not list a son William for Roger BLAKE.

My thoughts: William BLAKE mentioned could be the same man but with two different marriages (however he appears to have two different sets of parents). Perhaps Agnes has married twice and I must look at that more intently as I work through these wills. When you read the will below you will understand my thoughts that Elizabeth could be his second wife and he is ensuring that the children (namely John and William) clearly understand how he wants their possible step mother to be treated after his death. The older children in several cases as it turns out do not remain at Andover but move towards London. Enjoy the will; I think it is one of those landmark ones that is just fascinating to read and has so much information in it about the times and how people lived.


Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 20th February 2008
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/64/501
Name of Testator: William BLAKE, Yeoman of Andover, Hampshire
Place: Eastontowne, Andever, Hampshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 27 July 1582, probated 14 November 1582

[Margin]: 312
[Margin]: T[estator]  Willi[a]m Blake


1    In the name of God amen; I William Blake
2    of Estontowne, within the parishe of Andever in the countie of Southampton yeoman, beinge in good and
3    perfecte memorye of mynde and healthe of bodye (thancks be geven to allmightye god) wayethinge and pondering
4    withe my self the shortnes of the dayes of manne and the uncertentie of the tyme when hit shall please
5    Th[e ]allmightie to call us to his mercye oute of this transitory lief, And that wee are but Stewardes here
6    of this worldly gooddes and possessions to use accordinge to the rules of christian charitie to Godds honour
7    and glorye and muste at the generall daie of Judgemente render accompte of the obteyninge houldinge and
8    ymployinge thereof to his dyvine maiestie, Doe hereby of my self and by the councell and advise of my
9    good Freindes make and declare this to be my last will and testamente in wrytinge, revokinge by theise
10    presents all form other former willes of myne made, either by worde of or wrytinge at anye tyme before
11    the date hereof, And declaringe this to be my sole and onely last will and testamente in manner and forme
12    foollowinge and none other (viz Firste I yealde my soule and spyrite to the moste highe and blessed Trinitie
13    three personnes and one verye god the Father, the sonne and the holye ghoste, whoe hathe made redemed
14    and sanctified all the electe people of god, of which, nomber I doe hope that I am one; trustinge and belevinge
15    onelye by the meritts of Jesus Christe his bitter passionne, the second personne in the same Trinitie to bee
16    a saved sowle and in him at the daie of dome to have a ioyfull resurrection of this fleshe of myne,
17    willinge my Bodye in the meane tyme after my deceasse to be buried in christian buriall within the church
18    of Andever aforesaide nere the cloke howse doore there and in suche sorte as shal[l ]be thoughte most meete
19    by my executors, protestinge also by this my laste will and testamente that I houlde and beleve all th[a]t
20    whatsoever was promised for me at the tyme of my Baptisme and all the articles of a christian faythe
21    whatsoever which I aught to houlde or beleve and whiche the moste holye visible Churche of Christe
22    here on earthe teachethe and houldeth, acknowledgeinge my self hereby throughe the grace of god to dye
23    therein, wholye prostratinge and submittinge my self to the obedience of the same Churche wheare
24    soever the same is dispersed thereowte oute the worlde, utterlye renouncinge and defyinge all Sectes
25    heresies and dampable opinions whatsoever theye be, and of whomesoever there are houlden contrary
26    to goddes holye worde, the true catholike faithe and the Churche of Jesus Christe our Lorde and
27    savioure for the whiche he shedde his most precious innocente and guiltless[s] bloude. And as
28    concerninge the bestowinge of all my gooddes and chattells, I doe make thereof my laste will and
29    testamente in manner and fourme followinge and no otherwyse, That is to saye, I geve to thee
30    Cathedrall Churche of Win[ches]tor eight pence, And to the parrishe churche of Andever Thirteene
31    shillinges and fower pence, And to the Churche of Knightes Enham Thirtene shillinges & fower
32    pence, And to the poore people of Andever aforesaide Three poundes fyve shillinges and eighte
33    pence, to be amongest theme distributed by the discrecion of my executor and overseers. Item
34    I geve and bequeathe to Edmunde Blake my brother Tenne poundes of currant Englishe money
35    to be delyvered to him within one half yeare after my decease. Item I bequeathe and geve to my
36    sister Elizabeth Monday fyve poundes of the lyke currante englishe monneye, to be paide unto her within
37    one yeare after my deceasse. Item I geve to Alice Godwyn my sister twentie shillings of the
38    like currant Englishe monneye. Item I geve and bequeathe to everye one of my godchildrens
39    whiche shal[l ]be lyvinge at the tyme of my deceasse one good clydde lambe a peece. Item I geve and
40    bequeathe to Richarde Blake my sonne Fyftye poundes of currant englishe monneye, to be paide
41    unto him or his assignes within one yeare after my decease. Item I geve and bequeathe to
42    Thomas Blake my sonne Two hundred and fyftie poundes of lawfull Englishe monneye to be
43    paide unto him and his assignes yearlie after my decease by Fyftie pounds together by the yere,
44    untill the said Somme Two hundred and fyftie poundes shal[l ]be fullye satisfied and paide. Item
45    Item I geve to Amye Rombold my daughter two kyne one bullocke and twentie sheepe to bee
46    delyvered within one yeare after my deceasse, And the said sheepe to be delyvered oute of my flock
47    as theye shall ronne at lease. Item I geve to Magarett Jarvis my daughter Fyve marks of currant
48    englishe monneye to be paide her within one yeare after my deceasse. Item I geve to Agnes Kynton my daughter
49    one cowe and a bullocke, And to Elizabeth Beale my daughter fowertie shillings in monney. Item
50    I geve to Marye Rigges my daughter fortie shillings of currante englishe monneye to be delyvered
51    her within one yeare after my deceasse. Item I geve unto my eldeste sonne John one hundred sheepe
52    to be delyvered ymmediatelye uppon my deceasse ronninge at leace And also two horsses or fyve pounds
53    in money at the elections of my saide sonne John by hym to be taken or delyvered upon my deceasse
54    Item I geve and bequeathe unto Elizabethe Blake my wieff two kyne to be delyvered unto her ymmedi
55    ately uppon my deceasse by her owne choice owte of my herde of kyne, And also five sowes to bee
56    delyvered unto her by her owne choice owte of my herde of swyne. Item I doe bequeathe and will
57    unto my saide wieff all that her apparell woolens and lynnens which she shall have for her body
58    at the tyme of my deceasse, And also two feather or downe beddes nexte to my beste bedde and one other
59    flocke bedde for her maide to lye on, and twoe of my coverlettes to be chosen by her, nexte my Two
60    best coverlettes and also twoe paire of my beste blancketts and one paire of my seconde blancketts And
61    also eighte paire of my sheetes to be chosen by her, nexte after my sonne William hathe chosen fower
62    payre, And also twoe of my beste spones, twoe of my beste brasse pottes, twoe of my beste kettells
63    twoe of my best skelletts and two of my beste broches, and two of my beste Andirons, And also one
64    dossens of my best pewter platters, one dossens of pottengers, and one dosens of sawcers, fower
65    candlesticks, and sixe ioyne stooles, one table borde, one cupborde borde and the one half of my
66    poultrye whiche shal[l ]be aboute my howse at my deceasse, by her to be chosen, and also my beste
67    amblinge hackney that I shall have at the tyme of my deceasse and her saddle and furniture
68    belonginge to her for her iourneyinge. Item I geve and bequeathe to my sayde wife (uppon
69    condicion that shee shall clayme no Dowrie of my fee symple Landes, whereof I shall dye seyzed
70    or whiche I have bequeathed by this my laste will  the yearlye Annuytye of Twentye pounds
71    duringe her lieff to be issuinge and payable by my executours. owte of all my leasses and fearmes
72    that I houlde of the righte honnourable the Lord Sandys, at fower feasts of the yeare quart[er]ly
73    to be paide (viz the firste quarter to begynne the nexte Feaste either of Michaelmas, Christmas,
74    Th[e ]annunciations of oure Blessed Ladye, or sainte John Baptiste, whiche shall first happens
75    after my deceasse, And so at the same Feasts quarterlye fyve pounds a quarter yerelye to her
76    to be paide duringe her lieff, And if it happens the saide Annunytye of Twentie poundes or any
77    parte threreof to be behinde and unpaide at anye tyme duringe the naturall lieff of my saide
78    wieff, by the space of eighte daies after annye of the saide Feastes aforesaide as whiche the
79    same oughte to be paide unto the saide Elizabethe my wieff, That then and from thenceforth
80    it shal[l ]be lawfull for the saide Elizabethe my wieff and her assignees to enter into the sayde
81    Fearmes and other the permisses oute, whereof the saide Annuytie is goinge, yssueable or payable
82    whiche I houlde of the saide Lord Sandys, and thereuppon to distreyne, and the distresse to
83    dryve carrye awaye and with[ h]oulde untill the saide Annuitie and there everye thereof (yf anny
84    shall happens to be behinde be to her and her assignees fullye contented and paide). Item I
85    will and bequeathe unto the saide Elizabethe my wieff duringe her lieff, the fyndinge and
86    keepinge of two kyne to be found and kepte for her and to her use and proffitte uppon the
87    sayde Fearme groundes of the fearme of Andever, bothe in wynter tyme and in Sommer tyme
88    And to have aswell pasture for theme, as also fodder of sweete strawe to susteyne theme, in
89    good plighte, allwaies to be foddered, pastured, watered, and used at the paynes and provision
90    of my executor and by theire Servauntes and at their charge and industrye. And also I
91    bequeathe unto her my sayde wieff the fyndinge of two sowe hoggs for her and to her owne use
92    and proffitte to be kepte uppon the sayde Fearme of Andever, and to be sounde and well harboured
93    and well used and served within my saide Fearme of Andever in suche sorte as is meete and as
94    shall well contente my saide wieff ordered at the provisicion coste and charge of my executors
95    and the industrye of theire servauntes duringe her life. Item I bequeathe unto her fower dossen
96    of my poultrye of all sortes viz of Capons, hennes and chickens suche and best shall fansye and
97    like my saide wieff, and also the fyndinge so manye of poultrie duringe her life to be founde
98    fedde, harboured and well used and lyved, within my saide Fearme of Andever in suche sorte
99    as is meete and as shall well contente my saide wieff at the coste and charges of my saide
100    executor. Item I geve and bequeathe my saide wief yerelie duringe her life, for her necessary use one
101    waight of woll to be paide yearlye by my executor out of my Fearme of Andever the same yearlye to be deliv[er]ed
102    at the shere tyme, and that she choose yearlye the same waighte of wooll of the firste weighte of wooll
103    that shal[l ]be weighed of the ferme sheepe yearlye at shepesheare. Item I bequeathe and will that my
104    wieff shall have howse rome, duringe her naturall lieff for the abode within my house of Estontowne
105    that I nowe dwell in for her self and her maide, and that she shall have to her owne onely use, duringe
106    her lief, the bedchamber that I and she doe nowe lye in, and that she shall have free concoursse and
107    accesse into the hall, the kitchine, and the reste of my howses of office, aswell within doores as without
108    there allwaies to doe her necessarie busynes withall to her reasonable contemente, so as my executors
109    maye have with all, accesse quietlye into annye romes, within the howsses of office to serve his turne
110    reasonablye, not disquietinge nor excludinge my saide wieff oute thereof at annye tyme to do her
111    necessarye busynes therein. Item I will that my executors shall at his coste and charges provide
112    and fynde unto my saide wieff sufficiente necessarye and as muche woodde and fyreboote as she shall
113    spende in her saide chamber, or aboute the necessarye usage of dressinge her meate and drinck, w[i]thin
114    my saide howsse of Estontowne, And further more that if my saide wieff shal[l ]be mynded to remove
114    from my saide howsse of Estontowne to dwell at her pleasure and better lykinge and contentement
116    within the Towne of Andever, Then I will that neverthelesse, my saide executore shall at his
117    and theire costes and charges provide and fynde unto her sufficient woode and fyrebote for her
118    chamber, bakinge, dressinge and brewinge of her necessarie meate and drincke in suche sorte, as
119    before is lymyted to her for her inhabitinge within my said howse of Estontowne even in such manner
120    as thoughe she weare or shoulde be continuallye rescant there in all respecte, And shall further
121    yearlie paye unto my saide wieff for and towardes her howse rente, so longe as she shall contynue
122    there or else wheare, oute of my howse at Estontowne the yearlie somme of Twentie shillinges,
123    by the yeare to be paide quarterlye unto her at suche Feasts and daies and in suche manner and
124    sorte as her Annuitie of Twentye poundes before mencioned is appointed to be paide. And
125    furthermore if it shall lyke my said wieff to inhabite in anye other place besydes the Towne of
126    Andever owte of the same parrisshe, That then so longe tyme as she shall so enhabite owte of the
127    same parrisshe, I doe will that my executoure shall yealde and paie unto her for and in lewe of
129    suche kyne, hoggs, wooll, and poultrie as she shoulde otherwise have had goinge and founde
129    by my executor uppon my saide Fearme of Andever the somme of fowertie shillings of currante
130    Englishe monneye yearlye to be paide her at the Feastes, daies and tymes, and in suche sorte as her
131    Annuytye of Twentie poundes before recyted is and ought to be paide, And that so longe tyme
132    as she shall so abide, and dwell owte of the saide parrishe of Andever, she shal[l ]be excludedd to
133    demande of my executor annye other duetye before to her limited bequeathed or appointed owte of
134    my sayde Fearme, besydes the saide Twentie poundes to her limited and bequeathed w[hi]ch nevertheles
135    shal[l ]be paide her, in manner and fourme aforesaid. Provided also and my will and entente is
136    and so I doe declare it to be my mynde, That if my saide wieff shall happen to marrye, and
137    not to lyve sole and in her widowhedd, That then she shall have the saide yearlie Annuytye of
138    Twentie poundes, in manner and fourme as before is to her appointed onelye and shal[l ]be excluded
139    and barred for ever by this my laste will of all other benefitte whatsoever, if she should otherwise
140    have owte of my saide Fearme of Andever (annye thinge mencioned in this my will to the co[n]trary
141    notwithstandinge. And soe that my whole mynde and will is that my Fee symple landes w[hi]ch
142    I have to me and myne heyres by purchase or discente or otherwise, shall remayne contynue and
143    be forever hereafter in my name and bloude, withoute anye alteracion, discontynuance or devise
144    thereof to be made or suffered to the contrarye by those or annye of those or theire or anye of
145    theire heires, or heire males or annye of theme to whome I shall by this my laste will and
146    Testamente geve and bequeathe the same or annye parte thereof unto, I doe by this my will
147    And Testament geve and bequeathe all my Landes and Tenementes with all and singler thee
148    Appurtenauncs in manner and fourme followinge, That is to saye, Firste I geve and
149    bequeathe unto John Blake, my eldest Sonne, All that my two Tenements called Brownes
150    and Cambers with all and singuler the appurtenauncs situate in Knights Enham and Kinges
151    Enham within the saide Countie of Southampton, and all Landes arrables, meadowes feedings
152    pastures, commons, commodities, and advanntags whatsoever to the same Tenements or to anye
153    of theme belonginge or in annye wise apperteyinnge or as annye parte or parcell of themee or any of theme
154    used or occupied withall and singuler th[e ]appurtenauncs, whatsoever, And also all that my Landes Teneme[n]ts
155    and hereditaments called Brayes, and all landes arrables meadowes belonginge to the same withe th[e ]appur
156    tenancs, To have and to houlde the saide two Tenements called Brownes and Chambers withall and
157    singuler th[e ]appurtanauncs and also the said Tenemente called Brayes, and all other the Landes and p[re]misses
158    last bequeathed and recited unto the saide John Blake my sonne for terme of his naturall lieff, And after
159    his deceasse to the heires males of his bodye lawfully begotten, And for defaulte of suche issue to Will[ia]m
160    Blake my seconde sonne, for terme of his naturall lieff, and after the deceasse of the same William, to the
161    heyres males of his body lawfullye begotten the bodye of the saide William lawfully begotten And
162    for defaulte of suche issue to the heires males of the bodye of Peter Blake my Thirde sonne lawfully
163    begotten, And for defaulte of suche issue to the heires males of the bodye of Thomas Blake, my
164    fourthe sonne lawfully begotten, And for defaulte of suche issue, to the heires males of the body of
165    Richarde Blake my fyfte sonne lawfully begotten, And for defaulte of suche issue to the righte heires
166    of my saide Ist sonne John Blake for ever. And furthermore I doe by this my laste will and
167    Testamente geve and bequeathe unto the saide William Blake my second sonne one Tenement
168    with Th[e ]appurtenauncs commonlye called Roses lyinge within Kings Enham aforesaide, And all
169    Landes tenementes, meadowes, pastures, feedings, proffitts and commodities and advauntages whatso
170    ever to the same Tenement belonginge or in any wise apperteyninge whiche I late purchased of Mr
171    Cauley, And also one meadowe, with th[e ]appurtenaunces lyinge in Kings Enham aforesaide, which I
172    late bought of _ne Hayse, commonly called Dichie meade. And also the Crofte withe Th[e ]appurtenauncs
173    called Whiteyeres crofte and all the landes with th[e ]appurtenauncs which I late purchased of John James
174    of Charleton lyinge in Kings Enham aforesaid, To have and houlde the saide Tenement called Roses
175    with th[e ]appurtenauncs and the saide meadowe called Dichie meade with th[e ]appurtauncs and the saide Lande
176    called Whiteyeres Crofte and the saide Landes late purchased of the saide John James with th[e ]appurte[n]auncs
177    and all other the laste recited premisses unto the saide William Blake bequeathed withe all and
178    singuler their appurtenaunces unto the saide William Blake my sonne second Sonne for terme of his
179    naturall life, And after his deceasse to the heires males of his bodye lawfullie begotten, And for
180    defaulte of suche issue, to the saide John Blake my eldest sonne for terme of his naturall life, And
181    after the deceasse of the same John to th[e h]eirs males of his bodye lawfully begotten with the lyke
182    Lymytacions in their respecte and degree as before is lymitted to the saide Peter Blake and the
183    others followinge him, And furthermore I doe by this my laste will and Testamente geve and
184    bequeathe unto the saide Peter Blake, my thirde sonne all that my Eleaven Tenements and one
185    Cottage withe all and singuler their appurtenauncs scituate and beinge in Andever, aforesaide,
186    nowe at the daie of the date of this my will in the severall tenure or occupacions of William
187    Northe, Hughe Tydder, William Hussie, Christopher Broughe and Goodman Wilson, William
188    Bathe, Robert Carde, George Masonn, John Presser, Robert Newell, Katherine Hide
189    and [blank] Wiggs widdowe, And also all that my three meadowes with th[e ]appurtenauncs
190    lyinge within Charletonn within the saide Countie of Southampton, nowe at the date of this
191    my will in the severall tenures and occupacions of John Purham, John James and John West.
192    To have and to houlde all the saide eleven Tenements and cottage and three meadowes laste
193    recyted withe all and singuler theire appurtena[u]ncs unto the saide Peter my Thirde Sonne
194    to him and to his heires for ever. And to th[e ]entente that suche Fearmes, Landes, Tenem[en]ts,
195    withe all and singuler th[e ]appurtena[u]ncs whiche I houlde by Lease or Leasses, and of the graunte
196    of the saide Lorde Sandys, or of annye of his Lo[rd] Ancestors shoulde, contynue, remayne and be
197    to my bloudde and name withe my saide fee symple Landes in suche sorte and to somme of those
198    personnes to whome I have gevenn and bequeathed my sayde Fee symple Landes unto therefore
199    I doe by this my last will and Testamente geve and bequeathe the same landes in manner and
200    fourme followinge, That is to saie, I geve and bequeathe to my saide John Blake one Tene[ment]
201    withe th[e ]appurtenauncs, commonlie called th[e ]olde haule lyinge in Knights Enham aforesayde,
202    And all Landes and meadowes whatsoever in Leasies, pastures, feadinges, com[m]ons, proffitts,
203    commodities and advauntags whatsoever to the same Tenemente belonginge or in anye wise
204    app[er]teyninge, And also one severall close withe th[e ]appurtuance commonly called Walworte
205    And also twoe meadowes in Andever beinge Lammas Lande houlden by Tenne shillings rente by the yeare
206    And also all my Lammas Lande and meadowe, whatsoever with th[e ]appurtenauncs lyinge in Andever,
207    or Andever feilde aforesaide, And all other my Landes and tenements, whatsoever conteyned and
208    mentioned uppon the grande Lease to me made of the last recited premisses (excepte the Tenement
209    called Smythes and the parcell of grounde called Evatts Okes al[ia]s Glosshanger and suche Lammas
210    Landes as the saide William Blake my sonne nowe houldethe whiche saide Tenement called Oulde
211    hall and closes called Walwort, meadowe and lamas lande and other the laste recited premisse I
212    doe houlde of the saide Lorde Sandys for terme of yeares not yet expired, To have and to hold
213    the saide Tenemente called oulde hall, the saide close called Walwortt and the meadowes and Lammas
214    lands aforesaide and all other the premisses with all and singuler, th[e ]appurtena[u]nces laste recited (except
215    before last excepted) unto the saide John Blake for terme of his naturall lieffe, yf my terme of yeres
216    thereof so longe shall endure, And after his deceasse the saide Tenemente called old hall the said close
217    called Walwort and the meadowes and Lammas Lande and all the laste recited premisses withe th[e ]appurtena[u]ncs
218    (excepte before excepted) to remayne contynue and be to the heires males of the bodye of my saide sonne
219    John lawfullye begotten and so to contynue in my bloude and name from one to an other in lyke manner
220    and sorte and in everye respecte and degree accordinge to my sayde lymytacion made of my sayde fee simple
221    landes called Brownes, Cambers and Brayes so longe as the terme of yeares which I have in the granted
222    leasses of the same or of annye parte thereof shall contynue The saide John Blake and the heyres males of
223    his bodye bodye lawfullye begotten, and all other the persons before lymyted to enioye the saide Tenemente
224    called oulde haule & the saide close called Walworte and the said two meadowes and Lammas lande and other the premisses laste recited (excepte
225    before excepted) yealdinge payinge doinge and performinge all suche rentes dueties and covenants whiche
226    shal[l ]be after my deceasse at annye tyme due, paieable or to be donne to the saide Lorde Sandys his heires or
227    assignes or annye other personne or personnes whatsoever by reason of the graunde Leasse or Leasses made
228    thereof or of annye other parte or parcell thereof, other than suche rente and dutyes as shall growe due
229    by reason of the saide Tenemente called called Smythes and the saide groundes called Evatts okes alias
230    Glosshanger and other then for the said Lammas lande in the tenure of the saide William Blake my sonne
231    viz for the sayde Tenemente called Smythes fowertene shillinges by the yeare for the saide grounde called
232    Glosshanger fyve shillinges by the yeare and for the saide Lammas Lande Twelve shillinges by the Yeare
233    And furthermore to th[e ]intente that my sonne William Blake and th[e ]other personnes hereafter lymyted to have
234    my Fearme of Andever shall contynwe hospitalitie with the same accordinge to the proportions thereof
235    within the parrishes of Andever and Knightes Enham or one of theme duringe the terme of yeares w[hi]ch
236    shal[l ]be therein to comme after the tyme of my deceasse, I doe by this my last will and testamente geve and
237    bequeathe unto the same William Blake my saide seconde sonne my Tenemente and howse with th[e ]app[u]rtena[u]ncs
238    whiche I nowe dwell in commonlie called Smythes and all landes, meadowes, leasues, pastures, feadings,
239    commons, proffittes, commodities and advauntages, whatsoever to the same tenemente belonginge or in anye
240    wise apperteyninge, And also my Ferme of Andever, withe all landes, meadowes, leasues, pastures, feedings,
241    proffittes, commodities, and advauntages, whatsoever to the same ferme belonginge, or in annye wise appertey
242    ninge, whiche saide Fearme and Tenemente and other the last recyted premisses I doe lykewise houlde
243    for terme of yeares not expired of the saide Lo: Sandis (except and allwayes res[er]ved oute of this my last
244    gifte and bequeaste all suche percell of lande as bene before by me geven unto John my sayde eldeste
245    sonne, To have and to houlde the saide Tenemente Ferme and all other the premisses withe all and singuler
246    their appurtenauncs last recited and bequeathed (excepte last before excepted) unto the saide William my
247    sonne for terme of his naturall lief, yf my terme of yeares thereof to me made shall so longe endure
248    And after his deceasse the saide ferme and Tenemente and all other the premisses laste bequeathed and
249    recyted (excepte before laste excepted) to remayne contyneue and be to the heyres males of the bodye of the
250    sayde William my sonne lawfullye begotten and so from one to an other in like manner and sorte and in
251    everye respecte and degree accordinge to my saide Lymytacions made of my Fee symple landes called Roses
252    Dichie meade and whiteyeares crofte, so longe as my terme of yeares, which I have in the graund leasse
253    to mee made of the same or of annye parte thereof shall contynewe, The saide William Blake and ye
254    heires males of his bodye lawfullye begotten and all other the personnes before lymyted to enioye ye
255    sayde Ferme or Tenemente and other the premisess laste to him bequeathed yealdinge payinge doinge and
256    performinge all suche rentes dueties and covenannts, whiche shal[l ]be after my deceasse at annye tyme
257    due paiable or to be donne to the saide Lo: Sandys his heires or assignees or annye other personne or p[er]sonnes
258    whatsoever by reason of the saide graunde Leasse or leasses, made thereof or of annye parte or parcell thereof
259    or of annye the premisses laste recited and to the saide William bequeathed. The residue of my goods
260    (before not bequeathed nor disposed, my debtes and legacies beinge paide and this my laste will and testament
261    in all respectes iustlie performed and accomplished) I geve and bequeath to my sonne William aforesaide
262    to th[e ]intente that he and th[e ]other personnes before lymyted to have, my said Fearme of Andever shall
263    contynewe hospitalitie within the parrishe of Andever Knights Enham or one of theme during thee
264    terme of yeares of my said Fearme of Andever. Provided allwayes and my will and whole entent
265    is, That if it shall fortune after my deceasse anny of my said sonnes, or anny others to whome I have
266    limited to have and enioye annye parte of my landes or gooddes aforesaid, not to contente himself or
267    theme selves withe suche porcions of Landes or gooddes and in suche manner and sorte as I have before
268    gevenn and bequeathed the same unto him or theme, and unto everie or annye of theme, Or that theie or
269    annye of theme shall shewe themselves or annye of theme shall shewe himselfe or herself to have mislike
270    withe the same or of this my last will or of annye parte of the contente of this my testament, Or
271    shall endewe themselves or annye of theme shall endewe him or herself to devise doe practise attempte
272    or putte in use, or cause to be devised donne prassised attempted or putte in use or assente, consent agree unto
273    or suffer annye acte, thinge or thinges whatsoever or by what meanes soever whiche shalbe disturbe alter
274    violate, frustrate, breake or make voide, or shall or maie be by annye meanes intended, construed or
275    ymagined to disturbe, alter, chaunge, violate, frustrate, breake or make voide, in annye respecte or pointe
276    this my last will and testament, and the contents and limitacions of the same, or of annye parte,
277    pointe, limitacion, legacie, bequeaste, gift or contents thereof, or of annye parte thereof, or shall
278    not stande to and obeye the order and iudgemente of my overseers and the longest lyver of theme
279    duringe their lyves in suche ambiguities, doubts, questions, and controversies as shall happen to
280    aryse hereafter uppon or by reasonn of this my last will and testament to all entents and purpos[e]s
281    That then in all and everie the cases laste recyted, my said sonnes and everye other person and
282    personnes shall and everie of theme to whome I have geven graunted or lymyted to have or enioye
283    annye parte of my landes gooddes or chattells aforesaide and everie of theme in so doeinge and
284    offendinge this my mynde in my last will and testament shall for ever lose the benefitt of this my
285    laste will, and Testamente, to all entents and purposes and the Legacies and devises to theme and
286    everie of theme or annye of theme by the same gevens devised or bequeathed, and whiche otherwise
287    theye or annye of them, in not so doinge or offendinge mighte have had and enioyed. As thoughe
288    no mencions at all hadd beene made in this my laste Testamente of annye suche gifte devise or
289    Legacie And that then in everie suche case as aforesayd I doe geve and bequeathe by this my last
290    will and Testament the same porcion of my sayde goods and Landes to the resydue of my sayde
291    sonnes not so offendinge and to suche others aforesaide not so offendinge to whome I have made
292    the Lymytacions of the contynuaunce and enioyinge the reside of my sayde Landes, goods and
293    chattells to be equallye and indifferentlie devided and apporcioned amongeste theme. And
294    I doe make my sayde sonne William Blake my executor of this my last will and testament
295    Provided nevertheless and this my last will is, That if the saide William shall not or doe
296    not take uppon him the execucion and executorshipp of this my last will and Testament, or that
297    he and his issue male aforesaide shall not trewlye and iustlie paye all, the Legacies of this my
298    last will and also shall not doe accomplishe and performe the same thorowlye accordinge to my
299    entente and meaninge expressed in this my last will and testamenete, in all respectes whatsoever, or
300    shall not within one monneth after my deceasse become in sufficient bond unto my overseers or
301    suche of theme as shal[l ]be lyvinge at the tyme of my decease, or if theye shall happen to be deceased
302    to the Bisshopp of the dioces for the tyme beinge to obeye and performe this my laste will and
303    Testament, That then I will my said legacie and gifte before to him and his heires males bequethed
304    and geven as well of my Landes as of my goods utterlye to surceasse and to be voyde and of none
305    effecte, And then I doe make my saide sonne John my executor of this my last will and testament
306    to see the same well and trulye performed Annye thinge before mencioned to the contrarie notw[i]th
307    standinge. And I doe by this my last will and testament appointe my verye trustie and welbeloved
308    freindes Richard Sotwell, Doctor of the Civill Lawe, and Andrewe Reade gent to be my ov[er]seers.
309    givinge willinge and grauntinge theme and the longest lyver of theme full power and Authoritie by this my last will
310    and testamente yf theye shall so please to determyn decide and ende all ambiguities, doubtes, questions or debate
311    whatsoever whiche hereafter duringe their lyves or the longest lyver of theme shall happen to fall owte
312    amongest my saide children, or annye other to whome I have geven annye of my Landes or gooddes unto
313    by this my will conc[e]rninge this my last will and Testamente or anny matter conteyned therein
314    And I doe bequeathe to eche of my saide overseers in token of my good will towardes theme for theire
315    paynes Fowrtie shillings a peece to be delyvered within one monneth uppon my deceasse. In witnes
316    whereof I have to everie paper leaffe of this my will sette my signe and marke, Geven the Seaven
317    and twentithe daie of Julye one Thousande fyve hundred eightie two. Anno Regni Regine [domine ]n[ost]re Elizabethe
318    vicesimo Quarto. And further have to theise presentes putte my mark and sette my seale. witness
319    the same those whose names are under writtenn William Stotwell, Richarde Stotwell, John
320    Sotwell, An: Reade, John Deane
321    Probatum fuit suprascriptum testamentum apud London. Coram venerabili viro
322    mag[ist]ro Willi[el]mi Drurye legum doctore curie prerogative Cantuarien[sis] commissario etc Decimo
323    Quarto die mensis Novembris Anno Domini mill[es]imo quingentesimo octagesimo secundo. Juramento Petri
324    Johnson notarij publici procuratoris Willi[a]m Blake filij et executoris etc Cui commissa fuit administrac[io]
325    bonorum etc De bene etc Jurat[e]

BLAKE - Origin of the BLAKE families along the Cornwall/Devon border

This week's blog will look at the initially small number of BLAKE  marriages in the localities along the Cornwall side of the Cornwall/Devon border. I mentioned last week that up to 1600 there were seven marriages in total in this area along the border with five marriages having BLAKE as the groom and two marriages having BLAKE as the bride.

In the second blog of ten blogs on my BLAKE one-name study I mentioned the England's Immigrants Database 1330-1550 and the individuals who emigrated to the south-west of England from Breton.

This is the citation for this particular set of documents.  England’s Immigrants 1330 – 1550 (www.englandsimmigrants.com, version 1.0, 15 February 2015).

In my search of this database I found two individuals mentioned as emigrating to Devon:

 Surname    Forename    Nationality    Day    Month    Year    Residence

BLAKE   John                   Fleming            24   Jul    1484               Devon, Exeter

BLAKE   William             Breton                 4    Apr    1524            Devon, Morchard Bishop

I have blogged a number of times on the BLAKE family in the North Molton area of Devon. The earliest BLAKE records in the parish registers of North Molton are for a Thomas BLAKE buried 8 May 1542 and a John BLAKE buried 5 Dec 1546. There is through the years an extensive BLAKE family at North Molton and the next BLAKE family noted at North Molton:

BLAKE    Mighell    married Agnes Squire    1558    Dec    2  
BLAKE    Johane    daughter   BLAKE    Mychell    baptized    1560    Sep    1  
BLAKE    John    son    BLAKE    Mighell        baptized    1564    Dec    10 (buried  1565    Dec    6)
BLAKE    John    son    BLAKE   Mighell        baptized    1565    Dec    6  
BLAKE    Mote    daughter    BLAKE    Mighell    baptized    1565    Dec    6 (buried   1565    Dec  7)
BLAKE   Anne    daughter    BLAKE    Mighell    baptized    1568  May  16 (buried  1568    Jun  17)
BLAKE Michael, husbandman, will probated PCC 13 Nov 1619

Of interest,  it is 36 kilometres from Morchard Bishop to North Molton and 73 kilometres from Exeter to North Molton. I have transcribed all of the BLAKE wills at the National Archives (UK) known to me for Devon and links to them can be found on the Devon Genuki pages (https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/Probate).

The entries of interest along the Cornwall/Devon border include (Sheviock, Botus Fleming, Landulph, Marhamchurch, Launceston St Mary Magdalene):

Thomas BLAKE married Elizabeth (unknown) Sep 1551 (Landulph)
Patrik BLAKE married Sedwell Truskot 15 Oct 1570 (Botus Fleming)
Francis BLAKE married Jone Wills 15 May 1586 (Marhamchurch)
William BLAKE married Elizbeth Gyngar  5 May 1588 (Marhamchurch)
John BLAKE married Sybblye Holman 21 Oct 1591 (Sheviock)

There were two marriages with a BLAKE bride in this time period (Botus Fleming and Launceston St Mary Magdalene) but I do  not trace down any further than marriage so did not add these two in. The five marriages listed above do not trace down in the area in which they married.

Are there other Blake families in Devon in the border area with Cornwall?

Plymouth, Devon is the closest large city to Sheviock, Landulph and Botus Fleming.  Holsworthy and Okehampton are across the border from Landulph. In my studies of the BLAKE family in Devon thus far I have not located any families that would coincide with these marriages.

One of the oldest BLAKE lines (to the present) in this area of Cornwall was at Landrake which is about 14 kilometres from Plymouth.

Henry BLAKE married Margery Bake 22 Jun 1605 at Landrake with St Erney. Henry was buried 21 Jan 1664 (Landrake) and Margery was buried 29 Mar 1665 (Landrake). They appear to have had eight children and a number of them had descendants. This line is continuous in this general area to the present. But I could not discover any BLAKE members in this particular area prior to their marriage in 1605. I then moved to the Bodmin area working on the BLAKE family in that area.

Although it is tempting to conclude that the BLAKE family in Cornwall is composed of two distinct lines of BLAKE only yDNA testing could really verify the earlier ancestry of this family.

This concludes my look at the BLAKE family in Cornwall. I have extracted all the records and built all the reasonable trees from these records if anyone is particularly interested and I am most willing to share any of this information.

My next blog in this series of ten blogs will examine the oldest BLAKE will that I transcribed from the set of over 700 at the National Archives under PROB/11.That is the Will of John BLAKE probated 24 April 1504, PROB 11/14/117. There are two earlier wills both from 1487 that I have not yet completed (they are in Latin).

New Post Challenge with the Guild of one-name Studies

We are having a 10 post challenge at the Guild of one-name studies. I will do Blake and I want to look once again at all the data I collected on the Cornwall Blake families. I never did publish any of the information and I feel I should make what I have found available in a genealogical sense. I will begin by the end of this week. I may try for publication dates of Thursday each week. The Challenge will run from the beginning of January to the end of March (that is 12 weeks but gives a little leeway especially for first namers that are still working!).

I will commence with a blog on the 1330-1550 Immigrants Database and the Blake entries found therein and what I have learned about some of these entries. I will then focus on Cornwall although I may change that to another area but at the moment I am thinking Cornwall would be most interesting. I found it quite fascinating.

My Blake line is from the Andover, Hampshire, England area with my father being born at Eastleigh and his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather all being born at Upper Clatford. The place of birth then switches to Andover where generation six to ten are baptized (one may have been born at Penton Mewsey), and then Knights Enham where generation eleven to fourteen were born.

The yDNA of my Blake line has been tested by two brothers and it is an ancient line to the British Isles (most commonly found in the central western counties of Ireland) found in several particular areas including Hampshire through to Devon. It was the Immigrants Database that alerted me to the passage from Ireland to Salisbury, England in 1425 of a Richard Blake immigrating to that area which is not that far from Andover in actual fact having traveled the roads now. The father of my 13x great grandfather was Robert Blake who died (left his will) in 1521 (and one of his sons was Richard interestingly enough). Robert Blake was elderly at the time of his death and no idea on the name of his father yet although the Manor Books for Andover are extant and they were at Knights Enham. I have noted the forename John thus far in the Latin in the 1300s and do need to read them. However, those particular records do go back earlier so it is a mystery for me and I hope one day to resolve it. It would be quite fascinating to discover that my Blake line was also found in the western part of Ireland but it does not match the known descendants of the Galway line there which is descendant of Richard Cadell. Passage of people between the Isles of the British Isles does appear to be quite fluid even in these ancient times. For instance, I noted that a number of Blake entries showed Blake members traveling from England to Ireland in this early time period and was it these men or descendants who came back to England. No ideas on that actually.

One of the best matches to my brothers lives in Ireland but I have not been able to contact him in the 12 years since I first tested my brother. It is only 12 markers but interestingly enough those 12 markers are significant for this Blake line in that there are no other perfect matches with the closest being 10 on 12. Needless to say there are no matches at 25, 37, 67 or 111!

New Directions

Life has turned around a new corner for me and I am sitting back and looking at the workload that I have assigned to myself. I want to do it a little differently to match my lifestyle.

Firstly, I want to continue blogging Blake wills and will try to get back to that at least 10 wills per month (I am a person who lives by numbers, I learn numerically and I live numerically - just me).

Secondly, I want to fix up an error that I have recently discovered in my Legacy charting. When I upgraded to Legacy 8 from Legacy 7 I seemed to have shifted the way that I opened and saved my files resulting in a set of duplicate files which contained changes somewhat erratically. Recently discovered after my busy year as co-treasurer of the OGS Conference 2017 (and there is still work to do; not yet finished as a final trial balance needs to be done and then the audit).

Thirdly, along with fixing that error I want to produce a new family chart to use with my DNA matching on the various services that I have tested at (along with my siblings). I am finding it very handy to have all this information and matching but it would be even more meaningful if my charting was consistent and so that is another one of my goals from this new direction.

Fourthly, I want to continue with my one name studies of Blake and Pincombe but I am in the process of teasing some of this information out of my personal records as over the past fourteen years of doing genealogy (yes amazingly I have now been at this for fourteen years!) so that I am able to hand off, at some point in the future, all of my records to the Guild in the form of DVDs to either be picked up by another as a one name study or into their archives for a future researcher who will do the same as I did - pick up the traces of work that someone else has done in the past.

Fifthly, I will continue writing my family story. I have "completed" the story of my generation, my parent's generation (although family get togethers continue to add new information to their stories), my grandparent's generation (new records add to this information and family get togethers) and my great grandparents including all of their children tracing them down as close to the present as I am able (a few exciting matches have lately come my way continuing to prove that the paper research that I have done is right on). Susan Courage, and I hope she doesn't mind my mentioning her name, has emerged as one of my 6th cousins 2x removed where we share 5x great grandparents Ellis Ellis and Sarah Wellspring (our family DNA match is with her sister but none the less very exciting to have found a cousin amongst the people that I have actually come to know). But now I am into my 2x great grandparents and continue to work on John Blake and Ann Farmer and their ten children, 49 grandchildren and hundreds of great grandchildren I am still pulling out of the records. I have been nearly a year working on this line!

Surnames and Locations Studies

When I agreed to talk last summer (before I hurt my back), the thought was to show a presentation by the Guild on YouTube and then be ready to answer questions. About the same time I had become involved in The Surname Society which was founded by a number of enthusiastic genealogists around the globe (and truly we live in four different countries in total). I had agreed to do the newsletter. I felt great enthusiasm for the group partly because the Guild was being ripped apart by dissension over how to expand in a meaningful way and widen the umbrella. Since then I have done a survey of Guild Members in Canada and discovered that they felt much the same way as I did. That the Guild is really super the way that it is, not to change it too much and forge ahead. This new Society would permit some of the deviations that were desired within the Guild and I continue a member of both. I gradually thought that my talk should really just be about surnames and locations studies. I feel somewhat limited because I mostly only look at England as my ancestors way back in time are all English. Gradually I can see my Scot line developing, a couple of Huguenot lines and perhaps even a German line. Tentatively in my mind I am also pencilling in the possibility of an Irish line. Although that does broaden my horizons somewhat, my yDNA and mtDNA tell me that my two lines, in that regard, are ancient to the British Isles so for the most part I still sound like I am mostly British Isles.

I have now put together 46 slides which I shall work away at all week to see if I can get them to evolve into an interesting and informative talk. This really is my last talk. I find it very time consuming to prepare talks and it takes away from my research time. As I have been preparing this talk I also realize that in my June newsletter to the Guild Members in Canada East I will be announcing my resignation as Canada East Regional Representative and as National Representative for the Guild. Although I am not spending a lot of time on either, I think that if I do step down then someone who has the interest in taking the Guild about to Conferences will come forward.

I am enthusiastic about the Society of one place studies but haven't really had a chance to spend time on Upper Clatford and Bishops Nympton pages. I want to add free standing pages to our website that can be accessed from the profile pages for those two items. Also more information up for a Blake standalone page.

Probate Index of Blake Wills

I have over the past couple of years contributed 4057 line entries to the Probate Index at the Guild of One Name Studies. Time has moved too quickly this past year and I am still back in early December 2013 preparing the probate index which I submit. I am up to 403 lines once again and usually submit around 500 lines at a time. There are probably another two sets of 500 still to do. I decided this would be a good method of getting back into my research into the Blake family. Three months away has blurred the work that I was doing but on the other hand does give me a fresh perspective.

Doing our 2nd google hangout for The Surname Society brought to mind once again how I maintain all this information I am busily collecting. Reminding me that I had not submitted anything to the Probate Index for a very very long time. This is one of the perks of membership in the Guild of One Name Studies.

I have also transcribed a number of other interesting documents besides wills and I am contemplating doing a name index including the reference to the document, where it is located and a short summary of what is in the document. That is really the way forward in genealogy for all of us for people to prepare indexes of the material that  they have collected/transcribed. How to store such indexes is a mystery though that needs to be investigated.

Transcription

Slowly moving ahead with transcription and Valentine Blake's, Clerk at Winchcomb, will of 1615 will be a challenge. It is four pages long with an inventory and somewhat of a scrawl (I believe it is his original writing as these are wills from the Diocese of Bristol). Probably I will not complete it for a few days and I believe I will also work on the Cornwall Blake family at the same time.

The new society "The Surname Society" has my time commitment only for meetings and the newsletter (I will primarily be copyediting other submissions which will mean a much shorter time commitment). That brings to three the number of newsletters that I prepare. My Blake newsletter is short (never more than 2 pages unless someone wants to add something) but all written by me and my Guild of one name Studies newsletter for Eastern Canada (trying for twice a year and again written by me). As I approach 70 (2015) I realize that I must continue to pass on some of my commitments to other like minded people so hope that someone will come forward to take on the Guild for Eastern Canada.

The will of Valentine Blake is rather an interesting one as I do have a Martin Blake married to Catherine Vaughan living at Winchcomb but no son Valentine and the father is said to be David. This information from the Blake Pedigree Chart held at the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office. I did find a bit of information that gives me a possible date of birth for Valentine Blake. It is the recording of a case where he was a deponent 18 Jun 1612 and it is stated that Valentine has lived at Winchcombe for 15 years and that he was born at Fladbury, Worcestershire and he is aged 50 years. Hence a birth year circa 1562. Interesting that he is a curate at Winchcombe where the Blake family had lived earlier but also concurrent with Valentine's time there. Is he related?

Still working away on my exercises for my back which eats into my genealogy time quite markedly actually. I think that is the secret for recovery. When I tore my rotator cap a little more than ten years ago now I went to about half of a dozen therapy sessions which I found to be absolutely excellent. Being directed in such a way is very very beneficial and then doing those exercises for a number of years and my shoulder is completely healed. I hope the same for my back actually. 

Guild of one name studies

Linda Hauley has found that she has to step down as Regional Representative (Canada East) for the Guild of one name studies. When she took up the mantle nearly two years ago when I stepped down as my husband was ill, I really appreciated that. Consequently, I have offered to take on the position once again.

I have a clearer picture these days of how my time can be best utilized and I do have a strong belief in the Guild as a method of working on family lines. That I chose my parent's surnames was a logical choice and I continue to work away on Blake and Pincombe and I have now clearly defined what I see as my legacy to the Blake family name when I decide to step back from that study in the future. I still need to develop that plan for the Pincombe family which took on a very bizarre direction when I started to get results for the yDNA Pincombe study. The earlier Pincombe/Pinkham researchers had linked thse two families together but the results brought in differing results. Persuading my cousins to test is a high priority.

But back to the Guild of one name studies and Regional Representative. I shall try to further the advertisement for the Guild in Canada by publication of articles that pertain to one name studies in some of the genealogical journals read in Eastern Canada. In particular I would like to advertise this guild in Quebec where there are many one name studies already. I need to paint a picture that makes the Guild an advantageous place for these studies and as the Guild becomes more and more international I may be successful in that regard. Penetrating into the Maritimes is another story and not one that I think I can add to very much. But that area of Canada was heavily settled by the British Isles in particular Newfoundland and I think that advertising the Guild in Newfoundland where possible is something I will investigate.

Guild of one name studies and the probate index

One of the perks of membership in the Guild of one name studies is the probate index. Since I can not do marriage challenges from afar in particular registration districts I decided that my contribution to the Guild records for all members would be submitting my list of names to the Probate Index. Since wills are a big part of my research, I blog one most days, I have been able to contribute nearly 4000 lines to the index over the last couple of years. With over 1000 wills to transcribe on various lines principally Blake though, I will have a lot more to send in.

It has occupied me recently getting that submission up to date as I was almost a year behind when I commenced again on Sunday to collect the information into an excel file. What goes in is your membership number,  the year of probate, date of death if known, last name, first name of testator, county and place where will was written, then the surname, first name, why the individual was mentioned in the will and their relationship to the testator. A valuable tool that you can do a search on just to see the individuals that witnessed wills in your particular family grouping - often it was the same set of individuals in a particular area but not always.

Wills are, I believe, the best way of linking generations and establishing cousin relationships particularly in communities where there are two distinct similar surname families. As some members of the Guild have discovered with yDNA studies, two families with the same surname can live side by side through the centuries and not actually be related.

British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa Conference 2013

Another excellent conference for BIFHSGO and today was the final day. The Guild of One Name Studies table attracted a great deal of attention particularly after our panel presentation called "Success Through one name studies" which included John Reid as Chair and he spoke about his Northwood one name study, Sandra Adams speaking on her Shelverton one name study, Bill Arthurs on his Titus one name study and myself on my Blake one name study. I also returned  to the podium to speak about the value of the Guild of one name studies and Bill returned to talk about yDNA and the Titus one name study.

Bill and John have done their research on their own without being in the Guild.  I would have described the focus of Sandra's and Bill's research as being quite similar with quite similar results in terms of collection although Sandra's study is less than 1000 individuals and Bill's study is over 160,000 individuals. John and I have a similar approach in that we are looking at the name itself, how we fit into that name and some of the historical information that surrounds the surname.

It was interesting listening to everyone speak on their studies and the interest generated was quite high actually. Often one undertakes a one name study to break down a brick wall in their research but the other compelling reason is to learn more about a particular family and again Sandra and Bill belonged to the first grouping and John and I to the second.

Preparing for this particular talk allowed me to focus on the legacy which I wish to leave the Blake family during the next ten (or more) years of research on my part. I intend to complete the transcription of all the wills in my possession for the Blake family. This number is in excess of 1000 wills at the moment and I will be collecting more but hopefully I will be able to whittle away at that rather large number. It also  allowed me to formalize just how I would publish these wills (aside from my blog) in a meaningful way to make them available to Blake researchers in the future. Hearing that cursive writing may not be formally taught to children in the future I feel more urgency in my task as the ability to read these wills may fade with time rendering research into families more and more difficult than it already is. As a result I have decided to start the publication process as I work through the wills separating the wills into particular lines as I work my way through county by county. I will always have the option to consolidate or change but the task is so massive that leaving it until all the wills are transcribed would mean that I would have to stop my research and work on the consolidation for about six months I estimate before they would be ready to submit to Internet.org. Only the transcriptions and the analysis would be submitted - the original wills belong to the Crown for ever and are protected by that copyright.

I also hope to put together all 30,000 marriages for the Blake family in England betweend 1837 and 1911 with all the accompanying data and that will be a slow project although I have nearly 3% of these done and possibly more since I last gave a count to that. I will not publish that myself but rather it will be added to the Marriage Index at the Guild of One Name Studies.

I am also in the process of submitting each individual mentioned in every will to the Probate Index also part of the Guild records available to members. I have submitted several thousand lines already and that will continue to grow exponentially.

A third major task is my Parish Register Transcriptions and I am not yet sure how to publish those. I require the permission of the priest for each parish. Putting them on Internet.org is a thought and I will have to look into that.

The Mediaeval documents transcription that I have been doing is published on my website (down at the moment) Blake one name study. I shall have to think about how to archive that once I step down from the Blake study.

The yDNA study is undergoing some thought. Bill Bleak and I are giving consideration to the idea of offering ten free tests obtainable if one submits a five generation chart to us for a line that we do not yet have in the study. I am trying to decide how feasible that is; is five generations enough to give us the ability to decide if the line is distinct. I am still in somewhat of a quandry on that point.

This year's BIFHSGO Conference featured Ireland and in some ways I was sorry to miss all the talks as I do want to start looking at the Blake family in Ireland. It is highly possible that the Blake family of Ireland is much larger than the Blake family of Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). The Blake family of Ireland emigrated to Canada and the United States particularly but also to Australia and perhaps New Zealand I am not sure about the last one however. Some believe this family to be distinctly Irish whilst other believe that they are descendants of Richard Caddell and still others that they are descended from Blakes who went to Ireland from England. In general those who are able to trace back to Ireland belong to the R1b haplogroup and 80 to 85% of Irish males do belong to this haplogroup.

Windows 8 and Mozilla Thunderbird email program

It has taken a couple of days but I have now (with the help of my daughter) converted my Windows Mail on Vista to Mozilla Thunderbird on my Windows 8 computer. It was fairly straightforward but I had 22,000 emails to move many with attachments. Moving the contacts was a bit more difficult because of the naming of the metadata but all accomplished now.

I had a number of emails to reply to and they have simply sat these three months which is unfortunate. I spent the day working on a project from that time period and it is now accomplished so back to my own work once again. I have about 30 emails that are a must do and will work away at them. I have missed a couple of marriage challenges because I was just too busy to prepare for them. Another time perhaps in the future.

The summer is passing quickly and the garden starting to thin out. Our tomatoes should soon be ripening and we had a feast of raspberries at the time. The carrots are fattening and lots of brocolli and zucchini. We do not grow as much as we used to. Our green beans tasted great with a brocolli and ham quiche for dinner.

I want to start to plan my fall research over the next week or so and set up my daily schedule once again to look at family names for an hour each day. One hour for our son in law's French Canadian ancestors and one hour for my ancestors other than Pincombe and Blake. They get more time than that each day because they are my one-name-studies.

I also need to get ready for our presentation on one name studies at the BIFHSGO Conference in September. We are doing a panel on Success with one name studies. Although Blake is a huge project worldwide and I can only make a small dent in the Blake information in my lifetime, I have already achieved some of my goals with the project and more on that at the Conference.

Some of my goals for this winter are:

Working on the Abbots Ann parish registers transcriptions

Continuing with the wills transcription project

Complete the legacy files for the Pincombe one name study in as much as I have the data. I would like to get these on My Heritage website along with the Blake trees that I have created.

Working on the Blake marriages from 1837 to 1950

Working on the paper for TAG on the Theophilus Blake family - most of this work is being done by others but I will combine it in their names and see if we can get it published

My living memory has served me well lately as I have been prowling back through some of my earlier blogs with some of the emails that I have received

Lywood Family Research of Milston, West Harnham, Fugglestone St Peter, South Newton, Fovant, and Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire

For the most part, I have learned about my Lywood family from the Lywood one name study which was created by Warwick Lywood. I had managed to work my way back a couple of generations from my 2x great grandmother Elizabeth Lywood (married to William Rawlin[g]s) but his work took me back another six generations to John Lywood who was buried 18 Apr 1618 at Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire and his wife Edith Thayer who was buried 24 Nov 1612 also at Compton Chamberlayne.This couple had two sons John and Robert. They appear to be the two distinct lines of Lywood family with my line descending from Robert Lywood who married Alice Baylie 10 Jan 1623 (Old Style) at Fovant, Wiltshire. Robert was buried 14 Dec 1660 at Fovant and Alice was buried 12 Apr 1675 also at Fovant.

The Lywood family left very few wills. On the Wiltshire and Swindon Archive Catalogue there are four wills/administrations. They are for William Lywood in 1725 at Burcombe, Andrew Lywood in 1727 at Fugglestone St Peter, Charles Lywood in 1718 at Salisbury and Mary Lywood in 1727 at Stratford Sub Castle. The last two can be purchased online. The alternative names Leywood, Lyewood do not produce any results.

There are six wills on the National Archives website namely Will of Lady Maria Lywood, widow of Amsterdam in 1786, John Lywood gentleman of Romsey 1766, Hugh Lywood cooper of St Mary Whitechapel in 1741, John Lywood mariner in 1700, Leonard Lywood gentleman of Barton Stacey in 1854 and John Lywood of Barton Stacey in 1830. None of these wills fit into my family lines but I did acquire the wills of John Lywood 1766, John Lywood 1700 and John Lywood 1830 which I will transcribe before moving on to my new thoughts on what research I could do instead on the Lywood Research day.

The one item that Warwick didn't know was that my George Lywood (grandfather of Elizabeth Lywood my great grandmother) was at Waterloo as well as serving at Martinique during the Peninsular Wars. George was in the 23rd Regiment of Foot now known as the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. I discovered a published history of the regiment at their Museum in Caernarfon (Carnarvon) Castle in Wales when we were on our bus tour in 2008 and of course I purchased it for just 20 pounds. I have read it cover to cover and it was fascinating reading. George came to Halifax in 1807 and was thus my first ancestor to set foot in Canada! However, he didn't stay moving on to Martinique with the troops.

It is unlikely that I can do any better than Warwick with my Lywood family. I shall contemplate between now and the next Lywood research day which family to work on. I am leaning towards the Holmes family. George married Martha Peck 26 Oct 1817 at Milston, Wiltshire and Martha was the daughter of Elizabeth Peck. I wonder if there is a story there completely untold and likely never to be told. Elizabeth was the daughter of Joseph Peck and Ann Holmes who married 26 Jul 1740 at Milston. Joseph and Ann Peck had eight children all at Milston namely:

John baptized 28 Apr 1741
Thomas baptized 15 May 1744
Samuel baptized 26 Apr 1747
Jane baptized 9 Feb 1750
Jonah baptized 27 Mar 1753
Anne baptized 30 Apr 1755
Elizabeth baptized 15 Apr 1758
Mary baptized 15 May 1761

Joseph was buried 7 Oct 1791 at Milston and Ann his wife was buried there 5 Jul 1778. Both the Holmes and the Peck families have a long history in this region with Ann having been baptized 17 Jul 1712 at Figheldean and Joseph baptized 4 Apr 1718 at Milston. I am interested in the Holmes family and perhaps that would be a good study to do on the Lywood research day. The father of Joseph was Thomas Peck and he married Joanna Holmes 13 Sep 1705 at Milston. Discovering the Holmes family would be an interesting project. I purchased the Milston parish registers some time ago and have now also purchased a few others on our trip to the WDYTYA Conference in London in February.

East Riding of Yorkshire Blake marriages

I have finished Durham and I am now working on East Riding of Yorkshire Blake marriages from 1837 on (this is somewhat misleading as I am missing some that could not be conclusive from the census). It is amazing how many I am able to put together however, The next stage will be equally long as I will extract the births and deaths probably at the same time trying to link them with the families on the census. Then begins the difficult task of moving backwards prior to civil registration and census. Like most countries though England had a fair number of parents living with children thus helping me to link back that one more generation prior to 1837.

I actually had not expected to be this far along working on the marriages but it was something that I could fit into small timeslots and work on in between gardening and construction. As winter approaches though I will start to read fiche and that will mean that the task will again be fitted into available slots of time.

I also want to begin once again on the Blake one name study webpage to make final decisions on how to put it together for the most benefit to myself and other researchers. One might wonder why I would choose to work on the English Blake family rather than the Canadian Blake family since I am Canadian. Principally because my father was born in England so that my roots are there right at the beginning except for my own birth. Plus the Blake family in Canada has a very large percentage of Irish ancestry and I have not yet dealt with the Irish Blake family except in a very limited way. Others have worked quite hard on the Blake family in the United States of America although I occasionally make a foray into that enormous family there.

The BIFHSGO Conference went very well and our Guild of one-name studies table was visited by over eighty people seeking information on one name studies. Perhaps some of the people who visited us will join us in the Guild. There are a lot of people who do one name studies although mostly to tie their families into the existing trees or information on their family name but they have collected a lot of information which could be of benefit to others researching and add to their knowledge of their family. The Guild has a real affinity for the BIFHSGO society and conference in that 90% of the members of the Guild live in the British Isles. I especially enjoy the forum where discussion is ongoing most days on interesting spots in the British Isles - interesting details on places and times.

Blake marriages from 1837 to 1950 in Bedfordshire and Berkshire

I have completed Bedfordshire marriages from 1837 to 1950 and working on the same years in Berkshire. I sought advice from my colleagues at the Guild of one name studies and the approach I am using of a flat file (Excel) for all the marriages seems to be the most frequent and I will continue to fill in that one. Eventually when I have more details on family lines then I will move to registration district pages again in an Excel file. I can readily bring Excel into Access for querying.

I am still committed to using TNG for my web page display but will not rush into that at the moment. I find it interesting but will continue to look at other types of web display. The Blake family will be very large so I need something that is easy to use. As my research groups become more familiar to me then I will be able to let them work on their individual portions. It will require documentation of sources though to move backwards in time. That way all members will achieve the most benefit from the webpages. My own line continues to sit with Nicholas Blake and Robert Blake at Enham Hampshire with mother Jone Blake (widow, who left her will in 1527 naming her children but unfortunately no indication of her husband's name). A little more research on my part to see if reading the old wills in Hampshire can help me to discover his name.

Reading the Berkshire wills for the Blake family did reveal at least an acquaintanceship between the Enham Blake family and the Blake families found in Berkshire. I also want to pursue that to see if I can find any other documents linking these two lines.

Change in commitment

I decided as the New Year dawned that it was time for me to lessen my commitments in terms of managing items and as a result have stepped down as Regional Representative for Canada East for the Guild of One Name Studies. Linda Hauley responded to my newsletter query as to whether or not anyone was interested in taking over this position. Thank you very much to her.

I have another item that I am pulling back from and that is my DNA studies. I have asked on the GOONS (Guild of one name studies) list if anyone is interested in taking on the study of Hampshire yDNA. There are over 100 members and I have not found the time to investigate any further than putting people into haplogroups. I haven't been as strict as Debbie Kennett who runs the Devon DNA study although people have indicated that they have Hampshire ancestry in a number of cases. Ideally the person would have very close ties to Hampshire  (my father was born there as was his father, grandfather etc. back to at least his  11x great grandfather). The individual would also be a member of the Hampshire yDNA study group.

Enquiries on my Blake and Pincombe one name study have increased considerably and managing them will take up any spare time that I have. I would also prefer to have my time free to be available to help my husband who had another visit to emergency just after Christmas. He is greatly improved I am happy to say but my home workload has increased dramatically and I simply can not do justice to some items that require me to travel hence stepping down from the Regional Representative for Canada East.

My next item of business is to put together the Blake newsletter which will be found on my webpage for Blake once completed. I would like to produce freestanding pages for both Blake and Pincombe in order to put all of my information online that I have acquired/transcribed etc.